Raimondo brings back R.I. Children's Cabinet

10-member group charged with improving well-being of state's youth and families

By Alisha A. PinaJournal Staff Writer

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — To make Rhode Island "a place of opportunities for all families and children," Governor Raimondo has reconvened the state's Children's Cabinet.

The cabinet was created by state law in 1991, but has not met since 2007. Raimondo worked with the General Assembly to amend the statute to include principal members of her administration, including state Child Advocate Regina Costa, and to have the executive office of Health and Human Services provide support staff.

"It's unacceptable that we haven't even convened," the governor said at the start of Tuesday's meeting.

A just-released report by the Anne E. Casey Foundation said Rhode Island ranks 31st in the United States — and last in New England — for the overall well-being of children. The 2015 Kids Count Data Book said reasons for the ranking include that 22 percent of the state's children lived in poverty in 2013, and 34 percent of the children lived that year in families where no parent had a full-time, year-round job.

Rhode Island ranked 26th last year.

"We have work to do," Raimondo said. "Our children don't want to be last in New England. We can do better. We have the resources to do better. We have the talent to do better."

The 10-member cabinet is being led by Health and Human Services Secretary Elizabeth Roberts, who Raimondo said "has a rare combination of know-how and knowledge as well as a big heart and moral compass."

It is charged with creating a five-year plan to improve children and families' outcomes; establish policies, goals and performance metrics for each department; and come up with unified children's budget that reflects the strategic plan.

Raimondo also requested that its focus should be on the health, education and well-being of children; how the state delivers services and where it can improve; and ways to better share data among state departments.

"Our goals are fairly clear," Roberts said, adding that the cabinet has a "moral obligation" to do what's right for the state's children and families. She said the group will listen to everyone — including children.

The governor said the task will not be easy.

"Budget are tight, families are struggling and a weak economy compounds all the other issues that we have to deal with and puts greater stress, but despite that, we have to meet the challenges," she said. "Whether you are born in Woonsocket or the South Side of Providence or Pawtucket or Barrington or East Greenwich or Westerly, you should have an equal chance for opportunity in Rhode Island and that is what we need to commit ourselves to."

In an interview, Raimondo said the most vulnerable children in Rhode Island are those in the care of the state Department of Children, Youth and Families. The troubled child-welfare agency has been without a permanent director for about six months.

Raimondo provided no update on the search, but said she and the interim director are "working aggressively to stabilize" the agency.

"We had inherited an agency that isn't running the way it should," she said, "and we plan to deliver."